What’s the need for Project Acceleration?

We’re doing just fine. “Right”?

Many people have traveled down the road of providing project management guidance. With an abundance of information at our fingertips, why does it seem that success is still unpredictable? We should be able to conduct successful projects with a blindfold on, right? Well, let’s not jump to a conclusion so fast. We need a philosophical course correction, different from the past. A different perspective is needed to look at our discipline with a quality-oriented lens, viewing from the correct angle (specifically “a triangle” (more on the triangle later)).

Business environments are exponentially growing more complex by the day, that’s not going to change. Projects, of all kinds, are increasing in complexity and getting larger than ever, that’s not going to change either. Therefore, we can say with confidence that the discipline of Project Management needs to adapt to an ever-increasing scale and complexity.

While we did state ever-increasing complex environments, our goal should always be “Keep it Simple”. Simple is when a project’s definition is well-conceived. Project definition is best constructed and communicated through the use of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). All of us have a tendency to overcomplicate things. Think about all the password security measures that have been developed. Understand, security is an extremely important mechanism and a must-have in every system. It’s the complex enablement (the myriad of Use Cases) that is the problem that’s promoted some good and bad solutions. These complexities have had a negative effect on how we view security. In our pursuit to lock out the bad actors we’ve locked ourselves out, we’ve unwittingly complicated a function where we can’t or don’t want to access our own assets. 

When Agile arrived on the scene, one of its claims to fame was that it was less rigid than the waterfall methodology and built for speed. Companies jumped onboard stating they would become Agile shops. Well, that’s fine as long as your product/project fits the strengths of the Agile methodology, but not all do. Methodologies are more geared at a product, than a company approach. Underneath the hood are similar tools (with very different formats), and Waterfall is not nearly as rigid as many would believe, in the hands of a proficient project manager Waterfall can be quite agile. That said, our issue is not with the methodologies, it’s with the improper usage of the underlying controls and processes.

At this point, you should be thinking, but wasn’t that the promise of the myriad of methodologies and frameworks created over the years to improve how we conduct work. You would be correct in that assertion, however, a defined methodology or framework is not applicable to all conditions and for it to garner effectivity it must be correctly institutionalized. 

Here’s the perfect point to introduce the Project Accelerator. It’s not a new methodology or framework, it is knowledge about how to leverage controls in existing methodologies, frameworks, and best practices. Note that the Project Accelerator is guidance (not a step-by-step plan) to understanding and tailoring processes.

The Project Accelerator seeks to simplify the process of managing a project. It has underlying controls that drive activity cadence and rhythm, it addresses risk and risk mitigation so that risk does not impact the overall critical path. To implement these controls is to create acceleration. Project Managers can use these controls to remove barriers and establish momentum. The Project Accelerator is a course that defines project enablers called Accelerator Theorems & Axioms (truths). Leveraging these Theorems & Axioms simplify (lean out) the project environment and increase productivity and speed. The Project Accelerator is about incorporating linear efficiency along multiple critical paths in a project. This is not new, it’s just not practiced effectively. Note that the Project Accelerator focuses on delivering products. Activities and Tasks are considered steps that resources take to produce deliverables. The Accelerator operates at the deliverable level and not the lower-level components. Activities and Tasks form the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) elements for producing a deliverable.

In order for any program approach to work, you’ll need to tailor the program to the product line and the organization’s approach to development. The program should be institutionalized and all participating entities have a vested interest in its success. Part of institutionalizing the program is granting ownership of program components. This program mainly focuses on the project delivery team, but there is a lot of advice about upstream activities. Project definition is crucial to what a project delivery team can deliver and the success that can be achieved.

The Project Accelerator course is our signature product. This course targets project managers and their team members. The course will highlight knowledge and processes to accelerate project’ delivery cadence. The term cadence is very deliberate as rhythm is one of the major tenets of acceleration. The Project Accelerator uses Accelerator “Theorems & Axioms” to define how to execute acceleration. 

Methodologies such as Agile are not the holy grail of project speed, it’s a piece of the puzzle, one we’ll definitely leverage as well as other methodologies. Institutionalizing an approach is tailoring processes to the product (note that tailoring is not project-specific, but rather it is product-specific). We’ll cover how positive enablement of processes (no matter the methodology you employ) speeds up a project and how negative processes hamper speed and what it takes to be successful. We’ll employ a process called Risk-based Multi Critical Path execution (RMCP) to minimize bottlenecks. We’ll discuss how to set up a proper project delivery team and leverage stakeholders as enablers to progressing work. We’ll talk about the importance of dedicated resources so they don’t have to prioritize your efforts with someone else’s priorities.

As a Project Management practitioner of thirty years, there’s a mountain of research to share. We’ll do our best to deliver a lean message, patient to a point, but get on the topic quickly as time is not an infinite resource. One of the goals of this program is to provide guidance on topics that give you value.

By following the Project Accelerator program guidance you’ll be able to craft a well-conceived project definition, strengthen your stakeholders and team’s credibility and move forward with confidence (this is one of our Project Accelerator Axioms). Do not underestimate the confidence factor when enabling a great working environment, everyone wants to be associated with a winning team. The long-term vision of the Project Accelerator is to provide a one-stop-shop project management application, but this will take time.

Project Managers of all skills can benefit from this program. For the seasoned Project Manager, it will be re-focusing on a different perspective in defining and executing project delivery. For new Project Managers, it can serve as a blueprint to understand the “Why” to the “How”. Upon course completion, each student will earn a Certificate of Completion. As our community grows stronger so will the certificate.